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corkskroo posted:Chinese tea eggs Tried making some the other day, dropped one on the floor, ate one, and one got squashed on the way to school for a shoot. drat.. Anyhow mine weren't nearly as dark and lovely as yours - can you post how you made them?
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Sep 23, 2010 11:32
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^ We got the recipe from Steamy Kitchen. The key is probably to let them steep overnight. Man, I wish I had some right now!Cross_ posted:That's a really nice shot. I'm a little addicted to that effect but I probably need to rein it in. It's hard to say no when the lens opens to 1.8 I have some sweet pics of bottles of booze to post when I'm not just on my phone. Also I have some shots from a food event in a glossy magazine in November. I'm getting really into this.
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Sep 23, 2010 12:36
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LAchristus posted:What kind of lighting do you guys use - I tried a bit in the schools studio yesterday, but the strobes mixed with a f/2.8 was obviously.. too bright.. Do you use mod-lights from the strobes or how does one go around this. That sounds odd. I would assume the studio strobes to have manual setting so you can dial down the output power to 1/4 or something. If that's not an option, move the strobes away from your subject, or put neutral density filters in front of your lens. If the background does not matter you could also put your food in a light tent which will cut down the output a bit as well.
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Sep 24, 2010 02:01
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LAchristus posted:Digging this thread as I really want to learn the art of food photography - kudos to OP. At f2.8 you will need to have the strobes on very low power. I have 2 lights on 1/1 and 1/2 when I shoot at f9 to f11 . For the style I like shoot I much much prefer a bigger depth of field that the smaller aperture gives me. I feel food needs more detail, not less. Pretty food is a lot more than cooking skills. I started because I knew some chefs who can cook great food and asked if I could shoot their food for free practice. Now I am working paid jobs for them and their friends, some of whom are the top chefs in the US. Also check out "Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera" which is full of great tips. Another tip is to just shoot ingredients in their raw form or being cooked. You can amass a lot of portfolio shots like that. It's not just about finished dishes but the process. A project I did for a kitchen which the chef got a whole pig and we shot it being broken down into different parts and then those being cooked. In the 25 shots there are only 5 dishes and they are all very rustic. Finally everyone should check out this book and be humbled at how good the photography is. http://modernistcuisine.com/
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Sep 24, 2010 17:52
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Please explain the sliced pots & woks. Those poor veggies are about to fall out.. not to mention the coals! 
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Sep 25, 2010 01:27
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Cross_ posted:Please explain the sliced pots & woks. Those poor veggies are about to fall out.. not to mention the coals! I just spent the past day discussing with a fellow food photog how the hell they did that. It must be at least a composite of a few images or something. He is my mentor of sorts and he is totally humbled seeing some of the shots they have done.
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Sep 25, 2010 06:51
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I'm having an issue with granola, it just doesn't look sharp in pictures. I'm not sure what it is about the texture, but it doesn't look right. Here's an example. Any ideas?
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Sep 25, 2010 07:59
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mysticp posted:Finally everyone should check out this book and be humbled at how good the photography is. You are absolutely right - I just have to get out there and try to work with basic ingredients - thanks! Also, the photographs on modernist cuisine  aaamazing.
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Sep 25, 2010 10:21
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somnambulist posted:I'm having an issue with granola, it just doesn't look sharp in pictures. I'm not sure what it is about the texture, but it doesn't look right. Here's an example. Any ideas? Shooting bright light directly into the lens creates flare and reduces contrast. You want side light to reveal the texture.
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Sep 25, 2010 15:16
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mmmmmmm... poop in my mouth.... just what I want to be thinking about in a food thread! You know I kind of misspoke before when I attributed my shallow DOF strictly to my tastes (although that's an element). The main reason is that our tripod broke like 4 months ago or so and we don't have enough light to bracket as dramatically as we used to. I used to shoot each shot where I had time at multiple stops from 1.8 to 11 or 22. Not these days. Gotta get a new tripod. Anyway, here are some more location shots:  Shrimp, crab meat and avocado at a weird hybrid food-fashion event  Salmon at the same event  Tuna, same Some booze shots:     West african food:   And some home shots of tiny little egg salad sandwiches:    
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Sep 25, 2010 16:40
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I like the concept for the egg salad sandwiches. Seem hard to eat like that but look cool. Does this look good?  Shrimp and Grits
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Oct 4, 2010 20:41
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corkskroo posted:like a billion photos In a controlled setting it looks like you aren't having too much trouble with exposure, but you really need to work on your framing and the emphasis that you put on different elements of your subject matter. Anybody can get a light to work in their favour if they mess with it for long enough, but the thing that separates the big guns from the amateurs is the ability to unify a shot so that everything looks like it belongs together. Your first shot doesn't make any sense- there's some girl walking through the background, and then there's some spindly things, huge blowouts of overexposure and no emphasis placed on the food whatsoever. In your shot of the west african food, I can't tell if the thing in the bowl is a ball of rice or a ball of dough. Your best shot is the second from the bottom- it's the most cohesive and as a viewer I can understand everything that is going on in the picture. That's good. Something that might help you is dominance. It's kind of like the rule of thirds, but taken to the next step. A cheat to making a good photograph is to ensure that you have three major components: a dominant object, a sub-dominant element, and a subordinate element. The dominant object is the one with the greatest amount of weight in the picture. It's what you can put in the foreground, make the largest, keep in best focus. It doesn't always have to be kept 100% in frame, because your sub-dominant and subordinate elements can be used to give this object context. This is the way you can make soup look exciting. The sub-dominant object is what you place in the middle-ground of the picture. It can be a little bit blurry, or completely in focus. But it mustn't take as much precedence in the photo as the dominant object. It should be like the pilot fish to the shark. It can help create perspective, and tell part of the story. If you are photographing split pea soup, your sub-dominant element might be a spoon, or a folded napkin. The subordinate element is the littlest helper. It can be an object in the background that is blurred out with creative DoF, or it can be something more spatial, like a wooden tabletop. The accident that I see you making over and over is that you are trying to place too many sub-dominant or subordinate elements in your compositions. In your tuna spoons, your dominant element is pretty clear, but the plates in the top left corner and the additional spoons all have the same visual weight (brightness and overexposure) and that creates unnecessary complexity. The first shot of egg salad sandwiches has two sub-dominant elements as well, the bottle and the glass. It's too much to look at, and detracts from the importance of the sandwiches. I attached a picture to help, it's not my photo (taken from Sunday Suppers, a really good blog) but it's a drat fine illustration of dominant/sub-dominant/subordinate elements that tell a really nice story.
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Oct 5, 2010 07:46
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Thanks for the detailed feedback. That's good stuff to keep in mind. Regarding your first two comments, those issues are answered in thd articles that they accompany (the first talks about the models posing with the food and the second describes the bowl of fufu in detail, although I can see how the pics might have problems standing on their own. And those spindly things were driving me crazy too but I couldn't remove them.
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Oct 5, 2010 13:18
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Food styling book on Google: http://books.google.com/books?id=7BSioG0WCrcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Nov 29, 2010 01:49
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brad industry posted:Food styling book on Google:
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Dec 4, 2010 09:15
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Off to shoot pics of crockpot cooking today. Wish me luck! 
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Dec 5, 2010 14:30
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Been a while since I posted anything. More stuff for a NYC based private chefs cookbook. Quite a few shots to look at, probably the most happy with this shoot than anything I have done before. I was a lot more confident with controlling how the plating went. Now I just need to buy a poo poo load of props, as I felt I was very short on those during the shoot. At least now I am not needing any new gear. Sea Bass.  Pan Roasted Lime Radish  2 shots of the Lime Radish dish   Beet Marinaded Trout with Pistachios and Mint  2 shots of the Sea Bass from above, with parsnip crust and puree, roasted poblanos and chives   Smoked Octopus head with tomatos and corn.  Pan roasted duck breast with hen of the woods mushrooms and baby bok choi.  Rabbit rack, loin, leg with heirloom carrots and baby romaine lettuce. This shot was more playing around with what we can do. I had this huge vinyl mat which we 'plated' on for effect. I need to spend more time controlling the light, it has too much spill with the softboxes I am using. I like the principle of the shot though. 
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Jan 18, 2011 07:06
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Why is food photography so freaking hard.  food-1211 by AIIAZNSK8ER, on Flickr  chinese new year 2011 by AIIAZNSK8ER, on Flickr  chinese new year 2011 by AIIAZNSK8ER, on Flickr
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Feb 11, 2011 04:01
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AIIAZNSK8ER posted:Why is food photography so freaking hard. You need more direction for your lights, it's a bit too even right now.
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Feb 11, 2011 11:25
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corkskroo posted:Yup, I know all about compression. (I used to be a hack independent filmmaker and did a compression shot or two in my day) I've thought about the differences in tele vs wide and just would like a little more flexibility. But yeah the 50 is very nice in terms of minimizing any sort of weird warping. Maybe a lens isn't what I need. Maybe I need to focus on lighting. I have the 28-105mm and I love it. Its a great little lens and doesnt have alot of distortion.
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Feb 18, 2011 20:48
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AIIAZNSK8ER posted:Why is food photography so freaking hard. Uninteresting light + bad bad styling is your problem. I can't say this enough, food photography is 95% styling. I work on a ton of food shoots, that is the biggest commercial market in my area. It is standard practice for us to spend 6-8 hours working with a food stylist pushing every tiny little thing around, eye dropping oil on individual things to control highlights, etc. You can't just throw some food on a plate, point a light at it, and expect it to look good. It takes a lot of work and it's tedious. Even shots that look simple to execute are really the result of a lot of careful planning. I just finished a week of little piles of olives on white plates and we did 2 shots a day in a 12 hour day (not including retouching). Look at editorial stuff where the production isn't quite that high. They are still using stylists, but it's not quite as anally detail oriented. Pay attention to how they use light to flatter the food, every highlight and shadow is carefully placed even in more 'natural' looking images. Pay attention to what the 'hero' of the shot is (a plate with a bunch of stuff piled on it is not going to make a good photo, there needs to be ONE central focal point that explains what the dish is about). Look at how the props and plating are there to support the hero and not distract from it. Your first shot I can't even tell what it is, what am I supposed to be looking at? Some weird pile of something with beans in front of it. The bright plate and abyss of blue is stealing attention from the food. Your second one looks like greasy take out. brad industry fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Feb 19, 2011 |
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Feb 19, 2011 20:33
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Long time since I been in here. Just ordered the Food Styling book by Dolores Custer, hoping to get some good tips there. I tried making the tea egg some time ago, and it didn't come out too well, but I'm posting it anyway along with some other recent stuff. Last week I had a interview with a photographer about an internship and it went really well. So soon I will go work alongside her for some time and see if we can stand out each others faces for 4 years, and hopefully we can. Here in Denmark you need an internship in order to get the education as photographer, and it's really hard to find one. So cross you goony fingers for me! Also se primarily does food.      
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Feb 28, 2011 19:13
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Food Photography interests me, but I rarely remember to grab shots of something before it gets eaten. I did manage to get a shot of this Sticky Toffee Banana Pudding I made for dessert this evening using available light coming in through the window:
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Mar 14, 2011 05:53
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Looks delicious. Exposure looks fine to me, but the basket or whatever reflecting off the counter seems a bit of a distraction. Sticky Toffee pudding is amazing.
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Mar 14, 2011 06:25
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More food Lamb Rack with Napa Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Parsnip and Black Truffles. A dish by Daniel Humm the chef at Eleven Madison Park in NYC, shot for a Relais and Chateau event he is doing in Europe this year. 
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Mar 18, 2011 20:23
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LAchristus posted:Long time since I been in here. Just ordered the Food Styling book by Dolores Custer, hoping to get some good tips there. I tried making the tea egg some time ago, and it didn't come out too well, but I'm posting it anyway along with some other recent stuff. Good luck with the internship. I really like the stuff you posted, there is definately a vision in the last three. The only shot I don't like so much is the third, mainly because I have no idea what it is, therefore I don't want to eat it.
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Mar 18, 2011 20:27
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Thank you. The interview went really well and I have been out on a shoot with her. It was with a michelin chef called Paul Cunningham and it was so amazing - it just made me realize how much I want to be food photographer! So now I'm waiting for the photographer to call me back so we can discuss how she think it went. And offcourse more recent shots, all cooked by myself        
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Mar 19, 2011 19:13
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mysticp posted:More food Looks delicious! Maybe you should brighten up the background in the bottom of the picture, it draws my eyes away from the food. It might work better if you 90 degrees counter clock wise - just a thought!
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Mar 19, 2011 19:18
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LAchristus posted:Looks delicious! Maybe you should brighten up the background in the bottom of the picture, it draws my eyes away from the food. It might work better if you 90 degrees counter clock wise - just a thought!
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Mar 19, 2011 19:51
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LAchristus posted:You're work is great, but what is this last green thing? Seaweed?
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Mar 19, 2011 20:09
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mysticp posted:This is how the chef wanted it, I do prefer it 90 degrees rotated as well, so it will probably go in my portfolio like that. He also preferred the darker tone on the plate at the bottom, although in print and on my monitor in Photoshop it looks way brighter so I think it is just how a web browser shows the image. Weird he wants it that way, but I guess he decides. Yeah some of my pictures also get kind of weird when uploading small jpeg. AIIAZNSK8ER posted:You're work is great, but what is this last green thing? Seaweed? Spot in sir - its wakame seaweed. Shot with macro lens and a huge softbox behind - was a fun experiment!
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Mar 19, 2011 20:52
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LAchristus posted:Thank you. The interview went really well and I have been out on a shoot with her. It was with a michelin chef called Paul Cunningham and it was so amazing - it just made me realize how much I want to be food photographer! So now I'm waiting for the photographer to call me back so we can discuss how she think it went. These look good, just to give you some things to think about your props here are just as big as the food in the frame. Give the food more importance proportionally. Also your lighting is pretty flat, and your flat napkin in this one really makes it obvious. Try to arrange the napkin so it's more interesting and catches the light in an interesting way and leads you into the food. Make cardboard "fingers" or stick some props/glasses/whatever outside the frame to filter the light coming in, anything to break it up a little and add some interest or bring the focus back to the food.
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Mar 19, 2011 21:31
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LAchristus posted:Weird he wants it that way, but I guess he decides. Yeah some of my pictures also get kind of weird when uploading small jpeg. All his plates and stuff look like that, it's becoming his signature look. Another shot a friend of mine did for him a year or so ago has that same mysterious darker edges shadow spots, which the chef pointed out to me he loved. So much I end up doing in NYC is like his food, white plates, clean plating, not sure what the garnishes are on the main protein (which many times is very mysterious). All the high end chefs are doing that or the 'Noma look' which is all over the place now. I assume you are in copenhagen if you worked with Paul Cunningham, so I bet that style is all over the place as well. I am doing a shoot for Union Square Cafe next week, their food will be a nice change to what I have been doing for the past few months.
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Mar 19, 2011 21:44
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brad industry posted:These look good, just to give you some things to think about your props here are just as big as the food in the frame. Give the food more importance proportionally. Also your lighting is pretty flat, and your flat napkin in this one really makes it obvious. Try to arrange the napkin so it's more interesting and catches the light in an interesting way and leads you into the food. Make cardboard "fingers" or stick some props/glasses/whatever outside the frame to filter the light coming in, anything to break it up a little and add some interest or bring the focus back to the food. Thank you, and I can only agree with you. This shot I was not completely happy about - so it's nice to get some pointers on what to do next time. What is cardboard "fingers"? Good tip with having stuff outside the frame to break up light! mysticp posted:So much I end up doing in NYC is like his food, white plates, clean plating, not sure what the garnishes are on the main protein (which many times is very mysterious). All the high end chefs are doing that or the 'Noma look' which is all over the place now. I assume you are in copenhagen if you worked with Paul Cunningham, so I bet that style is all over the place as well. I am doing a shoot for Union Square Cafe next week, their food will be a nice change to what I have been doing for the past few months. Can you elaborate on Noma look? I haven't had the chance, or money for that sake, to eat there yet. I would love to buy the cookbook/bio they put out some months ago. Yes I live in Copenhagen, and his style is all over the place - very rustic, dirty and all over. He and the photographer I hope to get a full time internship with did a fabulous cook book together called Paul Food - it is without a doubt my strongest source of inspiration at the moment. This is her website, and some of the pictures from that book is featured in her portfolio. http://www.lineklein.com/
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Mar 19, 2011 22:22
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LAchristus posted:
I compare Noma to what is in the Fat Duck book or Aliena which has very clean, precise, perfect plates with lots of almost macro close ups and reflections. I think the original pioneer of that look in books was probably 4 Saisons a La Table No.5 by Kasuko Masui (a stunning book) Yannick Alleno is one of my fav chefs in the world. Also check out the stuff in the Modernist Cuisine that has just come out for probably the most cutting edge food photography right now. That's a very popular style in the last 5 to 6 years. So for me the Noma look is taking that and just messing it up a bit, plating is deliberately random and maybe it's on an old muslin tablecloth, or a wooden bench. Everything also looks like it was shot outside on a sunny but cloudy day. Most everything is also shot from directly above the food. Rugged simplicity which hides what is a huge amount of work and precision.
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Mar 19, 2011 22:59
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mysticp posted:Fat Duck vs Noma Ah in that way. Why is camera equipment AND cookbooks so expensive! Right now I just want to order some cookbooks and dive into all the pictures. But thanks for explaining! Being from scandinavian, half dane half swede, I prefer the Noma style by far. I think it presents the food in a way more enjoyable way. That being said, precise clean pictures is probably way harder to do!
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Mar 19, 2011 23:27
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All this food makes me thirsty. This is some stuff I was doing today with a bartender friend of mine for his and my portfolio.  
mysticp fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 26, 2011 22:48
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mysticp posted:Mm beer.. Nice pictures, like the feel of the two last especially. But whats up with the matcha drink, is than an egg on the side? Looks loving delicious though!
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Mar 27, 2011 21:31
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LAchristus posted:Nice pictures, like the feel of the two last especially. But whats up with the matcha drink, is than an egg on the side? Looks loving delicious though! It's an egg. After finishing the shoot I realized the egg was face on instead of side on, so it's not as obvious as it should be. The cocktail uses Cachaca, matcha and an egg white. Shaken and strained. The top shot I am happy with the style, but that was the only bottle of El Tesoro Anjeo we could get our hands on and really it should be full, it looks a bit crap being so empty. The lighting needs work as well, the stopper is way too dark.
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Mar 28, 2011 02:27
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Don't have anything to contribute, just want to say I really enjoy this thread. Some good photography and good critique here. Keep up the good work! 
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Mar 28, 2011 15:44
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